Stress is an all too common 21st century ailment, and the workplace is the number one stress-maker. According to the Canadian Occupational Safety, workers feel overwhelmed because “there aren’t enough hours in the day,” or else they say they’re “in over their heads” with too many responsibilities. The feeling of being squeezed in a job that has unrealistic demands and inadequate decision-making power leaves many employees with a long list of stress symptoms, ranging from chronic headaches to gastric distress.

A nagging complaint can soon turn into a more serious stress-related disorder. In fact, stress-induced illness now ranks as the chief disability filing for workers. A half-century ago, worksite problems centered on injuries to the back and limbs. But today, in a hurry-up world of impossible deadlines and workers tied to their computers, ergonomic injury has shifted from low back to head, neck and shoulder tightness and stress headaches. If you feel that your world of work is spinning too fast and you’re feeling a little out of control, you could use some help on three fronts:

First, lighten your workload. I know, easier said than done. But there is a limit to maximizing worker productivity, and if you are worried about the inherent problems with complaining to a boss about mounting demands, then consider the other avenues at your workplace for resolving the pressure: talk to your boss’s boss and to your human resources department. Judd Allen, President of the Human Resources Institute, believes that performance anxieties are best handled by companies in which leaders know that well-being is critical for organizational effectiveness.

Second, shore up your ability to cope with stress. Transfer some of that perfectionism about doing a good job to a healthy attitude about your personal health habits. Start your workday with a protein breakfast and targeted supplementation of an adaptogen such as Red Reishi. Adaptogens are nature’s miracles, the pre-eminent means for helping your body ward off the damaging effects of chronic stress. You can take adaptogens every day, unlike most herbs. Look for high quality, hot-water extracted Red Reishi from Japan for ultimate benefit of its phytonutrient power.

Third, move like your life depended on it. Daily exercise, at least 30 minutes a day, is one of the greatest de-stressors known. Your body needs this fail-safe means to let off steam, and your workaholic brain will finally relax.

When it comes to the occasional stressor, we humans do just fine. We’re hard wired to respond quickly and easily because our hind and midbrains are the envy of the mammalian world. Not only can we fight or flee, we can huddle, nest, nurture, lay in wait like a spring-loaded cougar, and recall stressful events in order to sidestep danger over and over.

It’s the over and over part that’s the killer. Too much unrelieved stress accumulates in the body and has a devastating effect on our physiology and psychology. This wear and tear can result in headaches, poor concentration, fatigue, muscle tension, insomnia, heartburn, and malaise. Left unchecked, elevated chronic stress can aggravate seven chronic conditions (cancer, heart disease, hypertension, mental disorders, diabetes, pulmonary conditions, and stroke). Doctors now suspect that the majority of hospital admissions may be related to stressful mismanagement of poor lifestyle choices.

What’s the key to relieving chronic stress? Balance. Not just balancing your work life—after a decade of advice, nobody seems to be managing that. Instead, we need inner balance of our body’s physiology. All systems need to be quickly restored to balance whenever stress levels get out of hand. Balance is achieved through mediation of cortisol and epinephrine, the body’s stress hormones, triggered by the autonomic nervous system. And even though all of these hormones have important jobs to do, when there is an unrelenting stream of them, the body and mind can’t function optimally.

This is where nature’s adaptogenic herbs come in. You can slowly recover on your own, or you can use a little daily help in the form of an adaptogenic mushroom such as red reishi. As an adaptogen, red reishi modulates the body’s stress response, restoring homeodynamic balance and calm. Red reishi, like all adaptogens, restores balance to the stress hormones; but research reveals it can also smooth out the highs and lows of blood glucose, blood pressure, and blood lipids (triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol). Plus, red reishi can be safely taken every day. One less thing to worry about!

Bah humbug. Pass the mushrooms. Red Reishi mushrooms, that is.

Although stress is an unavoidable aspect of modern life, we keep thinking we can eliminate it. I saw an employee bulletin with the headline, “Get rid of stress for the holidays!” The “season’s greeting” was filled with grim statistics about how heart attacks, strokes, ER visits, and auto accidents tend to soar at the end of the year. As if all the shopping, cooking, and in-law invasion was not enough good cheer.

When you’re overloaded with obligations, the simplest path to stress reduction is simply saying no. But, when this involves your job, picking up relatives at the airport, or finding the right gift for a loved one, the word rarely escapes your lips.

The next best thing to saying “no” is to take a second course of action: increase your tolerance for withstanding stress. Otherwise, long-term stress can leave you depleted and vulnerable to illness.

Red reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) has long been valued by practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine as a superior herb for health and longevity. Containing the highest concentration of polysaccharides and ganoderic acids of any medicinal mushroom, red reishi works as an adaptogen to help the body cope with everything from mental stress and sleep deprivation, to trauma and overexertion. Just what you need during the holidays!

There is no pharmaceutical treatment that can provide this kind of health-enhancing adaptogenic support. Plus, studies show that red reishi supports healthy immune function, helping you to ward off colds and flu. It also boosts the cardiovascular system by reducing cholesterol, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and reducing blood pressure.

In addition, red reishi has been shown to help with glucose metabolism, promote anti-inflammatory effects, and increase liver protection ─ without any toxic build-up or side effects. Just one capsule a day of a high quality red reishi supplement can help return you physically and mentally to a healthy and balanced state. You will also love all the extra energy red reishi gives you during this hectic time of year!

In my clinical practice, I make sure my patients get through the holidays and beyond with this amazing medicinal mushroom. Through research, I have discovered that the best quality red reishi supplements are made in Japan. I recommend taking a daily supplement of Mikei Red Reishi Capsules which are manufactured according to the highest standards set forth by the Japan Reishi Association. Taking Mikei ensures that you are getting the full complement of phytonutrients unique to red reishi. Since Mikei (pronounced “mee-kay”) is of such high quality, the benefits are usually noticed within a few days to a week of taking them.